


Redshift

by BleedingMagpie



Series: What is and once was [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, Nonbinary Chara and Frisk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 04:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9532061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BleedingMagpie/pseuds/BleedingMagpie
Summary: red·shiftNoun, astronomyA shift toward longer wavelengths of the spectral lines emitted by a celestial object that is caused by the object moving away from the earth.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is a first draft, but I wanted to get it out.

Asriel had expected things to be like before, but life doesn't really work out that way.

Everyone was free, he and Chara were back. Was it so unreasonable to hope that things would go back to how they had been? Evidently so, and he couldn't help but get frustrated as his mother explained that she had absolutely no intentions of getting back together with Asgore, though maybe one day they could be friends. She made no promises, even on that front. 

And then there was the matter of Chara.

Asriel knew Chara, their habits and ways of expressing certain things- it had taken him so long to learn- and he had hoped for better.

Chara was formal and so polite with everyone, and that would be a good thing with some people, but Asriel knew better. Chara was formal with those they were uncomfortable around, polite when they dared not be even a little rude, and they smiled because that's what people wanted to see more often than because they were happy. Sure, Chara was not familiar with many people, but he recalled how they had gradually grown more comfortable with the Dreemurrs. 

They were just as formal with the Dreemurrs as everyone else, now.

It could've been explained as them having to be get used to being alive again. He could accept that, they had been gone for a long time, except-

"Ay, Frisky Bitz, look at what I drew."

Frisk. Chara was not at all formal with Frisk. A  _human_. Chara  _hated_ humans, and Asriel knew it. He had  _felt_ it.

Once upon a time, they'd be showing him their drawings.

Chara came into the living room, freezing when they saw Asriel. He could _see_ their demeanor change entirely. They stood straighter, maintained a carefully neutral expression, and their voice became quieter. 

"I am not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No."

Chara offered him a small (insincere) smile and walked past him to where Frisk was, a fair bit of distance between them. He watched them, trying to be discreet about it. Chara was happily showing Frisk their drawing, having an actual conversation about what they had drawn. Frisk had a wide grin, and Asriel would in their position, too. Chara was really good at drawing, though he had never seen them draw a human. Their depictions of flowers, monsters, animals, landscapes, and anything else was always good, though. And they knew that. They were eager to share, with those they were comfortable around.

Asriel wanted that to be him, again.

It just wasn't  _fair_. Chara was  _his_ best friend.  _He_ had found them when they fell,  _he_ had brought them home,  _he_ kept them company while they healed. Not Frisk. Frisk hadn't even been part of the picture until recently!

Asriel  _liked_ Frisk, of course. They were really nice, but Chara had seemed to warm up to them so  _fast_. Actually, Chara seemed to like them right away.

He could try to talk to them, but Chara would be quick to leave if they saw him approach.

It wasn't like he never spent time with Chara, really. He did, but it wasn't often and it was never like before. There wasn't the familiar teasing and joking, the genuine smile that they were quick to hide behind a hand, the eagerness to tell him about the things they liked and wanted to share with him.

Even  _Sans_ got more on that front than he did. Chara loved to tell jokes with Sans.

Asriel had been so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Chara was done sharing their work with Frisk until they walked past him again.

And Frisk was right next to him. 

"You're upset."

He was surprised by that, they normally weren't so direct with this sort of thing. He smiled at them, "What? No, I'm just thinking is all. It's good to see Chara get along with another human."

"You're doing that thing Chara does." Frisk was not easy to convince.

Asriel sighed, that really was what Chara did. "I just... I wish they were still my friend, but it looks like they don't even like me."

Frisk put a hand on his shoulder, "Chara likes you just fine. You've just... Drifted apart." 

"I guess so..." Asriel looked at the locket hanging from Frisk's neck. He had given that to Chara, a long time ago, but they had insisted Frisk keep it. That had hurt a little.

He wrapped Frisk in a hug. Though they seemed slightly startled by it, they hugged back. 

"You're a good friend, Frisk."

Frisk patted his back, "Thanks. And I'm sure you can patch things up between you and Chara, it just might take a while."

"Yeah..." Chara was hesitant to trust and even more hesitant to get attached to people. Still, he'd managed it once.

He'd managed it once and now he knew how to read Chara better than he had the first time. He could do this.


End file.
